Time Schedule:
Corey C Phelps
ENTRE 510
Seattle Campus
Uses the tools of competitive strategy to analyze the success and failure of entrepreneurial ventures, identifying general strategic principles that might increase the probability that an entrepreneurial venture will succeed. Draws heavily on the principles of microeconomics and strategy. Prerequisite: B A 500; B A 502.
Class description
Entrepreneurship is the process of creating and growing new businesses and is fundamentally concerned with the identification and exploitation of opportunities for wealth creation (profit). Strategic management is concerned with understanding why some firms are more successful than others in creating and appropriating economic value (profit). Above-average economic returns accrue to firms with a competitive advantage. Strategic management consists of the set of commitments, decisions and actions designed and executed to produce and sustain competitive advantage. Successful entrepreneurs generate wealth by identifying opportunities for value creation and then develop competitive advantages to exploit them. The broad objective of this course will be to apply insights from the fields of strategic management and economics to the process of entrepreneurship in order to understand what differentiates successful from unsuccessful entrepreneurial firms. In this course, we will focus our attention on three areas: (1) methods for identifying opportunities for value creation, (2) strategies for appropriating the returns from these opportunities, and (3) modes of organizing to support these strategies. Much of the course material will focus on the high-technology sector of the economy because it represents the most dynamic area of economic activity and provides the greatest number of entrepreneurial opportunities.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
For the most part, we will tackle the complexity and ambiguity of opportunity identification and strategizing through discussions of case studies that provide rich descriptions of situations that are faced by real entrepreneurial firms. All sessions include readings in addition to cases. The readings are meant to provide some orientation and useful frameworks for thinking about the issues presented in the case(s). Cases and readings will be supplemented by periodic lectures.
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
Class participation and discussion. Individual case responses (2). Group case presentation. Group report.
